Five Nights at Freddy's was first released via Desura on August 8, 2014. On August 20, 2014, after it was approved by the service's crowdsourcing platform Greenlight, Five Nights at Freddy's was also released via Steam. Ports have been released for Android and iOS.

The game was praised by critics for being a unique take on the survival horror genre, with a particular emphasis on its simplistic design, along with how its gameplay mechanics and aesthetics contributed to an overall feeling of fear andparanoia. Five Nights at Freddy's was the top-selling game on Desura for the week ending August 18, 2014, and the game became the subject of a number of popular "Let's Play" videos on YouTube. Two sequels have been released,Five Nights at Freddy's 2 on November 10, 2014, and Five Nights at Freddy's 3 on March 2, 2015.